Jibun
by A Quiet World
Summary: They've got a real knack for bumping into each other... literally. KaorinSakaki fluff involving a chance meeting at the arcade, ten yen, and the crane game. OneShot.


Author's Brief Note: Gwahhh. Haha, I've got writer's block something fierce, both stylistically and creatively. But, I promised a certain wonderful someone some fluff, and fluff he shall get!

Dedicated to Ryuu, who makes me smile and laugh and blush and love being alive every single day, and inspires me, and makes me a better person. Thank you for being the Sakaki to my Kaorin, darling!

Disclaimer: I don't own Azumanga Daioh. :D No lawsuits please, I need that money for vidya games!

o0O0o

_This time, I will not miss._

Staring through the crowd, her eyes fell as stones to her target: unsuspecting, unmoving, with eyes that stared vapidly into space. Careful hands guided her aim, and the metal crept slowly to the right in miniscule increments. So many times, she had failed this mission, missing by a narrow margin or failing to deliver a fatal blow, leaving her goal incomplete. But this time... this time, it was different. She had traveled, had lavished time and money on careful training in other areas, all for this one mark which she chased so passionately—how she had waited, yearned, _ached_ for this one chance!

Slow and steady, she readied the silver apparatus, watching it glide until it was perfectly positioned. Then, one quick movement of her finger, and she watched in rapt attention as the sharp steel descended...

...only to watch as the crane rose, empty, and _whirr_ed back to its starting position, and the game reset for the next player. Miniscule lightbulbs taunted her from the perimeter of her vision; the new NecoConeco sat triumphantly at the center of the crane game, unattained, unclaimed. Once again, she had failed, and now she had not enough yen with which to play.

"One day," Sakaki murmured, gazing longingly at the plush object of her affections. She swore she'd gathered every other stuffed animal in Tokyo, except for this one model of NecoConeco, which was apparently produced in a way that made it softer than previous incarnations of the beloved mascot. Every time she saw it, she wanted it so badly she could almost feel the soft, cuddly thing in her arms, ready to be hugged and loved and snuggled with forever, and it was just so _cute_... but, it was not to be, and Fate had pushed their meeting away from her grasp again.

Resigned to the fact that she would have to wait a while to make another attempt, and with a small panda keychain clasped in her hand (a smaller prize she'd obtained earlier, to warm up), she started out of the arcade in a careless daze. Unfortunately, she hadn't been watching where she was going, and—

"Iyaa!"

"Ah!"

"S-sorry!" came the high-pitched yelp from the small, soft thing Sakaki had bumped into. In her dismal mood, she hadn't been paying attention, and had wandered right into some poor thing. She would really need to be more careful from then on, she noted. Helping the girl to her feet, Sakaki mustered a humble apology. "No, I was at fault. I'm sorry." Embarassedly, she let her gaze slump to her feet as she steadied the wavering obstacle, brushing a bit of the arcade-floor dust from the back of the girl's uniform.

"I-I-It's fine!" squeaked the girl earnestly. "Really, I'm all right! Honest! Promise!"

The overeager nature of this response was quite familiar by now—sure enough, Sakaki leaned back and found herself staring down into the nervous brown eyes of Aida Kaori, so unsteady and flushed that the taller girl was afraid she might faint. Poor thing, always in some state of dismal luck...

"Are you... sure you're all right?"

"Yes! Positive! Fine!" was the rapidfire reply Kaorin gave; the soprano squeak was unconvincing, as it tended to be. After another few moments of silence, Sakaki realized that she'd pulled Kaorin into particularly close proximity to herself in the process of helping her up and dusting her off, and quickly apologized (again) as she released the other girl from her arms. She noticed, at this point, that Kaorin was all but hyperventilating... could it be that she had claustrophobia? A dust allergy?

"I-I'm sorry," she said, and garnished the sheepish apology with a slight bow. She hadn't meant any harm...

"That's all right! D-don't worry about it, I didn't mind!" A split-second of silence as the soft glow of a blush in Kaorin's cheeks became a full-blown aurora. "Um, ah, that is to say, I, I... ano... are you here playing arcade games?" she half-exclaimed helplessly, grasping at the nearest of her fleeting thoughts like a child chasing small bouncing balls down a hill.

"Nn." Sakaki nodded, an involuntary slow bob. "Sort of."

"Wh-what kind? Like... fighting and racing games?"

"Not... exactly." Sakaki covertly slipped the panda keychain into her pocket, hiding it from view. So many girls were content with the image of this stylish, vague persona she affected... it would be unfair to shatter their much-beloved illusion, much as she longed to be adorable as this child before her was. "I... ran out of yen," she explained, taking care to dress her tone in cold granite-grey as she always did.

"Oh... I see." A pause. Then, Kaorin flung herself into a crouching position on the floor, satchel before her, and began rummaging through her schoolbag like a woman possessed. Folder, book, pocket, book, papers, she went on and on, and at last, praying her efforts would be rewarded...! Then, at last, she stood, breathless, producing a single 10-yen coin from a pocket and holding it out with to Sakaki in both hands, bowing deeply as she did so. "This! Take it!" she shouted, louder than intended. The gesture was almost comedic in its melodrama, but sincerity glistened in her tone; honest, pure generosity. Could it be... this was _her_ last ten yen?

"R... really?" Sakaki softly queried, reaching hesitantly for the coin in Kaorin's palms. Kaorin nodded vigorously, and the aurora was once again present at the sides of her face, eyes ablaze as if to swear, "I mean it!". Momentarily, Sakaki's hands paused. Then, her long fingers swept gracefully under Kaorin's and cupped her smaller hands, closing them around the lonely coin.

"You can keep it," she said gently. "It's your last ten yen, isn't it?" Kaorin, turned to stone by the touch of Sakaki's hands on hers, managed a meager, stiff twitch of her head that passed for a nod. "If it's yours, then you should use it yourself, ne?" Another disjointed jerking motion of her head, to be interpreted as a nod. But this had been abortive, stopping short (as only a terse nod can) and turning to a sudden, larger motion as Kaorin shook her head back and forth.

"N-no! I mean... I... I... it's worth it if you... that is, if you used it, it would make me ha-happ..." A pause as all those little bouncing ball thoughts vanished down the slope, out of her grasp, leaving her frozen and speechless in midsentence. Barely a second later, the cool metal disk had been thrust once more into Sakaki's palm, and with a swift bow that nearly sent her toppling over forwards, Kaorin snatched up her bag and dashed away, leaving Sakaki bewildered at the center of the arcade, staring down at the pittance which was Kaorin's whole fortune, when she'd given it up...

Her eyes wandered to NecoConeco, narrowing.

_This time... with this coin..._

Long, slim, practiced fingers closed firmly around the coin, gripping it as if to draw strength from Kaorin's gesture, as she silently uttered her mantra.

_I... will not miss._

o0o

"Are you going to mope all morning?" Chihiro piped up exasperatedly, glaring sidelong at Kaorin who trudged miserably at her side. Then, in a more soothing tone, she added, "it was _yesterday afternoon_. Don't worry so much about something like this."

"I must have looked pathetic," Kaorin groaned, shaking her head. "I bet she thinks I'm some kind of crazy person..."

"Hey, hey... I'm sure she doesn't think anything _like_ tha—" She stopped as suddenly as an old radio, switched-off and silenced in one deft turn of a dial. Rather than walking at Kaorin's side, she had suddenly peeled away, vanishing into a small group of other students.

"Chihiro-cha—?" Kaorin didn't finish, surprised into a similar state of silence as she bumped haphazardly into the person in front of her. "Eep! S-Sorry, sorry!" She said quickly, looking up to see the person with whom she'd collided...

Her heart leapt into her throat immediately.

"We... seem to be quite good at meeting in this way," Sakaki observed. She received the same miniscule twitch of a nod in response, and was so accustomed to it by now that it simply made her smile. "I... used the ten yen," she murmured, voice trailing off.

"G-good! Great! Did you win?" Kaorin chirped, blushing fiercely from the sight of that smile, pure and soft as lamplight through falling snow. "I-I-I m-mean, was it useful? To you?"

"Yes." Sakaki nodded. "Although I... didn't get first prize."

"Oh, I see..."

"I won a second-place prize, but I already had one of his brothers... so..." A momentary pause, and it was Sakaki's turn to take on a slight blush; shyly, she produced a plush blue penguin from behind her back, holding it out in both hands towards Kaorin. "His name is Aomaru," she said gently. "And I thought, perhaps... since you made that penguin costume for Chiyo-chan, it would suit you... and he'd be happy with you."

Frozen, Kaorin somehow managed to take the toy with trembling hands, slowly bringing it to her chest where she held it tightly. "Th...th...thank...you v-very much," she managed slowly, quietly, staring up at Sakaki like a deer in headlights.

"If it's all right," Sakaki began, "could I... bring you with me when I try for first place again?"

"Wh-why?"

"You seem to be..." Pause. "A good luck charm," she decided.

_Perhaps_, she thought to herself as Kaorin's head succeeded in making several full-fledged nods this time, _perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, to let you come along..._

Kaorin held the stuffed animal tightly, speechless, smiling adorably up at her and looking like she may have just died and gone to heaven. So far, this shy Sakaki had received no objections... could it be that Kaorin wasn't only interested in Sakaki for her "cool" self?

_...and, maybe... for you... it'd be all right... _

"Would it be okay if I walked you to Kimura-sensei's classroom? I... want to make sure Aomaru gets there safe."

"Y-yes! That'd be wonderful!" Kaorin's words bounded from her heart before her mind could control them, and she buried her face embarassedly in the penguin's fur, mortified. Sakaki gave a soft, musical laugh and smiled.

"It's all right," she assured her, and the edges of Kaorin's weak smile peered out from behind Aomaru's head.

_...maybe it'd be all right if I gave you a glimpse of her..._

"I-I'll have a little more money tomorrow, if you'd like to go to the arcade then..." Kaorin said hesitantly, briefly poking her head out from her perpetual shell.

"I'd like that," came the simple reply, and Sakaki patted Aomaru's head, allowing her fingertips to skim over Kaorin's for just a moment. The smaller girl's smile widened slightly, and her blush deepened.

_...the real girl, beneath this mask of "Sakaki-san"..._

Kaorin relaxed her grip on Aomaru and stared at him as though he were a precious treasure, almost loving. After a silence, and quietly, she asked: "Ano... Sakaki-san... do you... do you like things like this, too? S-stuffed animals and cute things?" Another soft laugh answered and comforted her at this.

"I do," Sakaki replied with a smile.

Kaorin smiled as well.

_For you... _

_...that would be fine._

o0O0o

Ahh, I haven't written anything out in a while! XBAWKS HUEG thanks to Ryuu for asking this of me, and for being so lovable that I wanted to write something enough to break free from writer's block.

Reviews are _incredibly_ appreciated—oh, but, don't feel like you have to! Really! It's nice to hear from you if you enjoyed the story, is all. I know a lot of people multitask while they're internetting and don't always have time. Thank you for reading!

To my reviewers: Oh my God, you are all AMAZING. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such wonderful praise for this little thing (;-; I'm so undeserving of it, too...) and for reading in the first place! I'll be sure to work hard to write more for all of you as thanks for your kindness!


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